94 
paper on the Egyptian word \J, ka* * * § This word, as signify- 
ing spirit, is applied freely to the gods. In one of the chapters 
of the Ritual, of extreme antiquity, the leas of Osiris, Horus, 
Suti, Thoth, and other gods, are mentioned as distinct from 
those divinities . . . “ the fourteen ka-u of Ra,” &c» 
“ In passages like these,” says Mr. Renouf, “ ka has a sense 
very similar to that of c Spirit 3 in Isaiah xi. 5— the Spirit 
of the Lord shall rest upon him,” &c. 
“ By the life of Pharaoh ” was a well-known Egyptian oath. 
It is curious that ankh, means “ to swear,” “ oath,” as 
well as “ life.”f The accused takes an oath “ by the king's 
life” not to speak falsely. A man swears “by the name of 
the Pharaoh.” A workman in a necropolis had sworn by the 
name of the Pharaoh, and was reported by an officer to the 
prefect of the town. It was beyond the competence of the 
subordinate, he said, to punish the workman for this offence.J 
Thus it would seem that great lords might swear by the 
Pharaoh without rebuke : 
u That in the captain’s but a choleric word 
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.” 
Certainly solemn and judicial use of oaths was commanded, 
but perjury and careless swearing were prohibited and 
punished, and included amongst sins in the Ritual. 
It is singularly interesting to find the suspicious words, 
“ surely ye are spies,” in the Sallier Papyrus I. in the mouth 
of Ra-Sekenen, when Apapi's ambassador comes to him. 
“ Who sent thee here to this city of the south ? How hast 
thou come to spy out ? ” 
The kindly fellowship of the Pharaoh “ and his house ” in 
Joseph's happiness has a pleasant parallel in the case of 
Saneha's return to the palace of Amenemha I. from his ad- 
venturous wanderings long before. § 
The interpreter || serves the same office as the scribe Khiti 
on the introduction of the thirty-seven Amu to Khnumhotep. 
An interesting point arises with regard to the ring of the 
Pharaoh, tabba'ath, the well-known golden signet- 
ring with its engraven stone. This was the symbol of 
authority given by the Pharaoh to Joseph. But the signet, 
* T.S.B.A . , YI. 505. 
f Brugsch, in Zeitschr. 1868, 73 ; 1874, 62. T.S.B.A. I., 178 ; III. 345. 
X Chabas, Melanges , Illme serie, tome II. 48. 
§ Records YI. 131, || Gen, xlii. 23, 
